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Tuesday, 28 October 2014

I don't often blog about the day job, but I'm making an exception for this. I'm really excited about a brand new Research Support Librarian post on our team - if you're interested in supporting world-class research please apply!

We're a small, close-working team, which means we all get to do a little bit of everything, but this post has a particular focus on supporting research staff and students at the Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge. The job advert and further particulars are on the university website, deadline Thursday 20th November.

Saturday, 25 October 2014

Around this time last year, a very good friend pointed me in the direction of the Bonnie Hilditch International Librarian Award (thank you Jo!) This award is sponsored by the Science-Technology and Engineering Divisions of the Special Libraries Association (SLA) to help an international librarian get to the SLA Annual Conference. Application was by CV, cover letter and letters of recommendation, I applied and won!

The 2014 conference was in Vancouver and I loved it. At >2000 attendees, it was much bigger than anything I've been to in the UK/Ireland, but without being so huge that you feel lost in the crowd. The Engineering Division dinner, the Sci-Tech Newcomers' Lunch and the Fellows and First-timers Reception made me feel welcome from the start. SLA Engineering and Sci-Tech Divisions are so welcoming and, shockingly, it was also the first time I had met the other SLA Europe attendees!

I learned so much, with sessions ranging from embedded librarianship and user experience through to 'Science and Engineering 101' and electronic lab notebooks (see my write-up on p.27 of Sci-Tech News 68 (3) 2014). I found myself searching for ways to come back next year, and am really excited to be involved in planning the 2016 conference in Philadelphia.

So about that award? Applications are now invited for the 2015 award which will help you get to SLA Annual Conference in Boston. Apply now! Not sure this particular award matches your background? There are loads of others, take a look at what is offered by the most relevant Divisions and of course there are also the SLA Europe Early Career Conference Awards.